Ball Star's power rankings: Week IX

Every Monday morning, a look at the top dozen teams in baseball ... and the best of the rest.

On to the rankings…

Ranking | Team | Record | Last Week

1 Texas Rangers (32-22) (1)

There are plenty of ways to measure the Rangers' offensive prowess. But here's something different: Nelson Cruz's home run on Sunday measured more than 480 feet.

2 Tampa Bay Rays (31-23) (4)

The Rays currently have four starters with an ERA better than 3.95. And that doesn’t even include left-hander Matt Moore, who is 2-5 with a 4.45 ERA.

3 Los Angeles Dodgers (33-21) (2)

With Matt Kemp out another four weeks, the surprising Dodgers may have trouble holding off the Giants in the NL West.

4 Washington Nationals (30-22) (3)

On Sunday, Steve Lombardozzi and Bryce Harper became the first rookies to hit back-to-back home runs to lead off a game in the modern era (since 1900), according Elias Sports Bureau. Here’s your weekly Harper watch: In 118 at-bats, the 19-year-old is batting .288/.380/.542 with five home runs.

5 New York Yankees (29-24) (7)

After never hitting more than 30 home runs during his six years with the Tigers, center fielder Curtis Granderson has become a prolific power threat in New York. After hitting 41 homers last season, Granderson is on pace for close to 50 home runs in 2012.

6 Chicago White Sox (31-23) (10)

Left-hander Chris Sale lowered his ERA to 2.30 with a complete-game victory on Sunday against the Mariners. Sale, 23, is now 7-2 with 69 strikeouts in 66 2/3 innings.

7 Miami Marlins (31-23) (11)

One of the cooler stats from Sunday: Marlins starter Carlos Zambrano picked up the win and hit a 431-foot home run.

8 Cincinnati Reds (30-23) (8)

Apologies to David Wright, but the departure of Albert Pujols and Prince Fielder has left little doubt as to who is now the preeminent hitter in the National League. That would be Joey Votto, who is batting .346/.476/.620 with 45 walks and 41 strikeouts.

9 Atlanta Braves (29-25) (9)

After four straight losses to the Nationals, the Braves rallied to salvage a 3-2 victory over their division rivals on Sunday.

10 Los Angeles Angels (28-27) (12)

The Angels are now 10-2 since May 21 — and perhaps back to favorite status to snag one of the American League wild cards.

11 New York Mets (31-23) (14)

The Mets’ solid start has seemed like a mirage, unsustainable, all that. But New York makes it first appearance in the top 12 after Johan Santana's no-hitter delivered one of the season’s defining moments thus far.

12 San Francisco Giants (17)

It’s rare that you see a trade evolve from universally lauded to universally loathed, but that’s what happened on the Royals’ side of the Melky Cabrera-for-Jonathan Sanchez exchange. The main reason, other than Sanchez’ total ineffectiveness: Cabrera is batting .371 with an NL-leading 82 hits.